Columbus's Circle

Updated Oct. 8, 1999 12:38 a.m. ET

By Julia Vitullo-Martin, who edited "Breaking Away: The Future of Cities" (1996).

"T hey all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round." Ira Gershwin didn't have to explain his words when his song became a huge hit in 1936, since everyone knew them to be true.